46. Ansley Baby Hog
ansley: baby hog
Sloane was a stoic trooper. I remember my third birth being similar.
A little quicker, perhaps a little less stressful.
On the one hand, you know what is about to happen is going to be horrible.
But you also know it’s going to end. It doesn’t last forever.
The pain subsides. And you are left with the most extraordinary gift to last you the rest of your life.
And Jack got his wish, too. He had walked two daughters down the aisle and been there when the third gave birth. Now, he was holding his granddaughter, staring down at her, as I watched over him. “Wow,” he said. “She’s so tiny and perfect.”
“She really is. Well done, Sloane,” I said.
Adam, Caroline, Chase, Emerson, and Kyle were all in the room too, but no one said a word.
Poor Vivi was about to come out of her skin that she wasn’t here, but someone had to be responsible for Preston, Carter, Taylor, and AJ.
Poor thing. I wasn’t wild about the idea that Caroline had let Tyler stay to help her, but she wasn’t my child.
And being responsible for four children was a lot. She needed some help.
“Well, since we’re all here, seems like a good time to tell you her name,” Sloane said.
Adam nodded and we all turned to look at them. “We have been calling her Lee, so we decided we’d stick with that. She looks like a Lee.”
Sloane paused. “Ansley Richards.”
Jack gasped. “But Richards is my name!”
“Oh, it is?” Sloane joked. “We hadn’t even thought of that!”
Everyone laughed, while I tried not to tear up. “I promise I’ll try not to let you be my favorite just because we share a name,” I whispered down to baby Lee.
“You’re such suck-ups,” Caroline said. She turned to Jack. “Want me to hold her while you run and get the trust fund paperwork done?”
Everyone laughed again.
“Well,” Jack finally said, “I am honored beyond words. This means more to me than you’ll ever know.”
“Me too,” I said. “What a huge gift.” I kissed Sloane and then stood back beside Jack to stare at baby Lee.
I sighed. “There is literally nothing more precious or wonderful or amazing than seeing a new member of your family be born into the world.”
Emerson and Caroline shared a look that I didn’t miss. I peered at them. “What was that?”
Emerson smiled. “Well, I’m glad to hear you say that, Mom, because you will have more opportunities to welcome new family members next year.”
“Two of them, in fact,” Caroline said.
My head was swimming. “I’m sorry. What? You’re finally pregnant?”
Emerson nodded, and I kissed her and then Kyle, feeling a surge of joy mixed with relief well up in me. All you wanted in the world was for your children to be happy.
Then I paused and looked at Caroline. “Wait. The surrogacy?” My eyes went wide. Could Emerson and Kyle handle two newborns?
But then Caroline shook her head and pointed at Chase.
“No!” I said, kissing the two of them too. Wow. Now that was a surprise.
I looked at my sons-in-law. “Wow. Married mere hours and you’ve already achieved this. You two work fast.”
We all laughed. “Sorry, Mom,” Caroline said.
I wondered if that had anything to do with the surprise wedding.
“I found out during the wedding, if that’s any consolation,” Chase said.
Ah. So that answered the question. “Well, what’s going to be so fun is hearing Mrs. McClasky do the math all over town.”
“I think the real math here is that I’m going to be a mom again at forty,” Caroline said.
“Oh, people do it all the time,” Sloane said, waving her off.
Chase wrapped his arms around Caroline, his hands clasped on her stomach protectively. “I’m so happy you’re my wife that I don’t think the baby thing has even sunk in yet.”
“Oh, well, believe me, it will,” Kyle said.
“I absolutely cannot wait,” Chase said.
Jack locked eyes with me, and I wondered then if he was thinking what I was, if he was sad that, though we had gotten the incredible gift of being young together and the great blessing of growing old together, we had never gotten this middle part, with the babies and the parenting and navigating this slice of life.
We could not change it, of course, but wasn’t it human nature to want to?
“You’re being a baby hog,” I said, snapping myself out of it.
I took Lee from him and turned, holding her to my chest, inhaling that sweet smell that next year I would get to inhale two more times.
Baby. New life. New beginnings. As Lee nuzzled into my neck, I had the most delicious feeling that, no, it wasn’t a new year, but today, right now, as the clock turned to November 26, was going to be a beautiful fresh start for all of us.